When things don't go well...

Something happened today. Something that never happened before...But let's go from the start. Today's spin has started out pretty well, I went up to the highest point in Hungary. The peak called Kékestető is at 1014m above sea level and the route I picked was about 45 km each way. The weather was very hot (32-34°C) but hey! It's summer time, isn't it?! 

The way up went well, nothing extraordinary happened besides battling the biggest climb in the country. I had fun as you do, took a quick photo and the turned back home. Even managed to spice things up by picking the mega fast descent on the ski slope.  

Descending on the ski slope is alway fun

After the long descent back to Gyöngyös things started to feel a bit "funny" though. I started to feel bad on the bike and things got worse pretty rapidly. At first I couldn't place this thing at all since I've had plenty of water & food along the way...

I was dizzy, I had nausea, head ache and I got pretty bad chills. Needless to say how difficult was to ride the bike like this, nevermind the little stinger climbs... 

I ended up feeling so bad I decided to stop and call for a lift. At this point I've done almost 80 km and I was close enough to home but I couldn't carry on any further. I got off the bike, walked a few meters and then just stopped. I called for my Dad and asked if he could give me a lift home ...

This whole thing was a massive slap in my face as I never aborted a spin before. Never. I had countless very hard moments on the bike before but I never reached the point what I reached today. 

It turned out I managed to get a heat stroke thanks to the proper Hungarian summer. Yeah, it's nice to ride a bike on a hot and dry summer afternoon but I have to admit that I'm not used to this temperature anymore. I have been away for almost 10 years and it seems like this time was enough to make me soft...but at least I can ride well in bad weather. Thank you Ireland, haha! :)  

Now, it's time to get some rest and get the system back to normal.

   

I'm sticking to the plan!

Jaysus, the racing season is in full swing and if I'm not careful I'll miss out on all the XC and XCM events! But of course life is hard and it's quite difficult to allocate time and sources to racing. I'm absolutely dying to race again, especially because I would be racing in the Hungarian field after a decade. 

So, am I planning? Sure, just as always! I have my eyes on a couple of XCM races and it would be amazing if I could do 1-2 of them. I'm being focused and I'm putting the training in...now, that isn't too much these days unfortunatelly but still, feeling good on the bike and the motivation in through the roof!  

We'll see what is it gonna be enough for, I hope I can test the legs soon! :)

Summer evening MTB spins are awesome!!

#summer #bonedrytrails

Welcome home dude!

A good mate of mine is home from Ireland for his hollier. Of course he brought the bike home, so we wasted no time: we teamed up for a savage rip around the local hills! Proper summer XC spin it was with dusty dry trails and rock solid 34°C temperature. It was real shocker I have to say but what can I say? It's the Hungarian summer for you! :)  

Brutal steep climbs and super fast descents. We managed to absorb all of them with a pretty good pace and ended up to have a 40 km long spin and a good chat. The last time we were riding our bikes together was about 8 months ago, so this spin was well overdue. 

Thanks for joining for me Gyuszi, it was a savage bike ride!!

Sunday's Adventure Spin

Today was one of those days when I just couldn't resist: picked my favourite Bullet For My Valentine playlist and I took every unknown turn on the way in order to find new trails near my place. And I have to say the plan worked out well!

I can't help it but I simply love these rides. Riding on trails that I never seen before without knowing where they gonna take me. Finding savage climbs, brutal fast descents and getting to places in the middle of the nowhere. Lovely! 

I went out for a solid 2 hours 30 minutes ride this afternoon and I managed to link together some of my favourite places via brand new trails. Good trails they are, I'm sure they'll be used again soon! 

Thursday evening staff spin // HHH, Budapest

It's nice to finish work, get up to the mountains and go for a mountain bike ride with you colleagues. This is exactly what happened this evening: we had a nice MTB spin with the lads from the office. 

The destination was the well known and famous HHH in Budapest. It is a lovely spot indeed and on the top of that riding there was a blast from the past for me. Have been racing so many times on these trails and it was absolutely brilliant to ride them again!!

Luckily the weather was good also which was a gift considering the crazy weather that we've seen lately. Nice to be lucky, isn't it? :) 

Sunset in the Pilis mountains

So, I'm only back home and still buzzing after this short but fun spin. Great mountains, savage trails, cood company...what more you could wish for? Oh, I know! A dinner would be nice, so I'm off to grab something nice to eat! Happy out!! :)

# justaphoto #XC #29er

It's spring time!!

Can't beat an early morning MTB spin!

Wow, I almost forgot how cool an early mountain bike spin can be! Luckily I got a reminder of this stuff that I love so much. But let's go from the start!

Champion's breakfast: muesli & fresh fruit...lovely

The alarm went off at crazy o'clock and I didn't want to believe it's already time to get up...but I pulled things together quickly and after a brilliant brekkie I was ready to go.

5:45 am sharp, it's time to head towards the mountains

Sure, it's spring and all but I can tell folks, it was a pretty cold morning today. Left the house in -5°C, so it took me a little while before I felt good on the bike. But when you turn those pedals half asleep, you get the freezing cold air into your face and you have a savage Bullet For My Valentine song screaming from your headphones, you wake up pretty quickly!   

Nice sun rise up on the trails

This morning I realized how much I love riding my bike on these early mornings: everything is calm and silent, not a single soul on sight. By the time the day starts for other people I'm already back with a savage training spin under my belt. It really feels good! :)

Savage MTB session this afternoon

Finally! The local trails have dried up nice & good, so I wasted no time to get some proper mountain biking done this afternoon. I was absolutely dying to be able to go off-road again so you can imagine how good today's spin was!

Of course I went out for my favorite training loop:

Zagyvaszántó - Petőfibánya - Petőfi hegy - Apc - Somlyó - Jobbágyi Kilátó - Szurdokpüspöki - Jobágyi - Széleskő - Apc - Zagyvaszántó

It's a 33 km long loop (mostly off-road) with 740 meters elevation along the way. The aim was to get it done under the 2 hours barrier. I wasn't far of, I managed to finish the loop with 2 hours and 4 minutes time. Not too bad, next time will be better though! :)

It was absolutely brilliant to ride off-road again and the super-mega-über slippery downhill back towards Szurdokpüspöki made things even better!  Let's just say I had a few close calls on the descent! :)

Another Saturday, another great spin done & dusted! Let's celebrate with a nice glass of...

...refreshing home-made tomato juice #yumm 

#photoappisgreat

What a day it was!

Wow, today was an absolutely savage day on the bike! It's still February but it felt like a proper spring day for sure. After a small bit of a "scare" and a few extra miles in the car I picked up my rear wheel that was in for repair and shortly afterwards I was on my way up to the mountains. 

Originally I planned a good old fashioned off-road spin but the trail conditions crossed the plan. I love riding in mud and all that but I still have to get used to the Hungarian conditions again, they are very different compare to Ireland. 

So there I was, ready to hit the trails. About 100 meters in I had to rethink the plan. I managed to hit the most sticky patch on the side of the hill. Cool...let's turn back...try again somewhere else...

Ouch...I didn't see this coming! :)

Anyway, after 2 attempts I decided to just simply leave it and stay on the road. Wasn't the way I was hoping for but in the end of the day I was out on the bike and like I said, the weather was gift! 

This short 2 hours ride was such a huge refreshment after the busy week at the office. Can't wait for the next one!!

Back on the bike!

Finally I'm back on the bike again! I had a 2 weeks long off-the-bike time thanks to the freakish neck injury but thankfully I managed to get rid of it.

So, everything is back to normal. To celebrate that I went out on a very wet and miserable training spin. Did 44 km just ander 1 hour and 48 minutes. Wasn't a big spin at all, but the point was to get out and get some fresh air into my head after the busy week.

Put on the finest Korn tunes and got the legs turning a bit. It was a nice spin, it feels great to be out on the bike again. Happy days!     

Last spin of the year, good bye 2014!

Let's wake up from the Christmas hibernation

Christmas was brilliant but it was time to get up from the sofa and start to burn off that 28 million calories that I had during the Festive Season. Today was an amazing day for it: sunny, -2 degrees. So I wasted no time, got the bike out of the shed and I was on my way up to the top of the nearest hill. 

The savage climb got the system going again

Riding the 29er today was a real joy. And the sub-zero conditions were nice too! Was good to get the legs turning again and was good to get some fresh air into the lungs. Happy days! :) 

Message of the day

#crosscountry #wintertraining # Hungary

You gotta love autumn!

Falling leaves. Trails are covered. Slippery conditions. Foggy forest. Early evenings. Stunning colours. Fresh air. Not too cold just yet. 

The change is in the air, you know something is up. I just simply love mountain biking in the autumn. I don't know what's with me and the autumn, but I honestly love every bit of it!

So, I do my best to enjoy every minute of it before the proper Hungarian winter hits us! :)

All packed, ready to be shipped...

So this is it I guess. After a good wash the XC beast is packed away and it is ready to be picked up and to start it's long journey back to the family home. Wrapped everything nice & good and I'll be riding it again before I know it. Have a safe trip "partner", see you soon! :)